Help Feed My Music-Listening Obsession
Share recommendations for my Spotify playlists.
Last year, per my Spotify Wrapped results, I was in the 98th percentile of the platform’s worldwide listeners. I spent 72,518 minutes—approximately 1,208 hours or 50 days—listening to music, podcasts, or audiobooks while I worked, lifted weights, commuted, or wandered the aisles at McKay’s1. When I got the news of my brand loyalty, I DM’d a childhood friend, now an executive at Spotify, asking for freebies. I am still waiting for his response or my koozie.
This is me on Spotify. Rather than trusting in algorithms and AI, I’m writing to ask for your personal help in building out and refreshing my playlists.
Here is a selection I’m working on right now:
Dreamer Central. Songs for and by fellow non-conformists, nostalgics, and maladaptive daydreamers. The list is way too small, ranging from comedy-rapper Lil Dicky’s “Mr. McAdams”2 to a Midwestern emo version of the PBS show Arthur’s theme song (“Believe in Yourself”). This is my go-to playlist when I want to fantasize about a future in which I’m actually a successful writer living beside a trout stream and not just another conformist.
Workout (Holy Hip-Hop, Funk, Screamo/Post-Hardcore). Everyone has at least one go-to workout playlist. I don’t imagine many contributions here, but if you’ve got something that you like to get swole and sweaty to, I’ll take your recs.
Reflections and Writing (Indie-Folk/Ambient Rock, Instrumental Rock). The first of these lists is a hodgepodge: 180 songs, or about 12 hours, of music that could make the soundtrack of a Terrence Malick film. The second is mostly Midwestern emo, math rock, and other instrumental headbangers.
Storytellers. If the songs could be short stories, this is where they go. I’d love to build out this list with songwriters from a different era, since the only artist I regularly listen to who was famous before the ‘90s is Bruce Springsteen.
Nostalgia. Speaking of the ‘90s! These are the songs younger Gen X and older Millennials rocked out to. I already have a playlist of nostalgic songs for older emo kids (Emo/Screamo 2002-2006). These defy genre; everything from “Virtual Insanity” by Jamiroquai to “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls and “Mo Money Mo Problems” by Biggie, Mase, and Puff Daddy.
Genre-specific. I’ve got so many other playlists, from Latin rock and roots music to Western country, bluegrass, and folk; medium- to fast-tempo rock, indie and blues rock; movie songs and scores. All are in need of augmentation.
As a thank you, I offer the greatest gift of all: credit when someone says, “Dude, that song is incredible.” Street cred still goes a long way in American society.
I’ll be back next week with a new section of this Substack: The Weekly Big Head.
In this column, I’ll bring you adventures as well as conversations (and lessons) with a rotating cast of characters I’m fortunate to consider friends. In the age of keyword-stuffed Google search engine results, longer and longer YouTube ads, and paid ads every third or fourth scroll, we could all use a little more time learning from people we know.
Alright, I won’t distract you any further. Send me your song recs!
The only activity I consider it absolutely reprehensible to partake in with headphones on or a stereo blasting is fishing. If you listen to music in the forest or with a rod in your hands and a line in the water, you should repent. Now, before it’s too late. Jesus is coming, and you don’t want him to catch you sinning.
The song is okay, the hook is great, but the story behind it is better. Dave Burd, the man who created the character, had a childhood crush on Rachel McAdams. So did I. So, after getting famous, he orchestrated a way to get her into his show and eventually this song. I admire the man. As a pre-teen with a crush on the character Tawny, played by Margo Harshman, on Even Stevens, I used to say that I’d one day become rich and influential enough to send the FBI to her house and, assuming that she were no longer famous by then, arrange a date for me. I’ve had a crush on only one other white woman in my life. Fortunately, I married her.
For Storytellers...I find myself listening to kind of a lot of The Longest Johns lately. Their relatively new album is really solid, with a lot of good storytelling. I'd suggest "Willie Taylor" as a place to start. "Fire & Flame" is another favorite, with a historical event at the center.
Also, "Nostalgia" is painfully missing Spacehog's "In the Meantime"